Review - Revolution by Jessica Frances

Image and blurb from Goodreads

Title: Revolution

Author: Jessica Frances

Publication Date: January 26th, 2016

About the book:

I was raised in a world where humans no longer rule.
In the past, we made a terrible mistake by creating a new species we thought would serve us as our army, which led to our downfall.
There was a war, we lost, and many lives were massacred. It was the end of life as we knew it and the beginning of a hell we were now trapped in. We became enslaved to what we now called Superiors, becoming pets to them, simply there to entertain.
In a world so miserable, I managed to do the unthinkable: I fell in love. But even that was doomed, because to love a Superior was forbidden.
What the rest of the Superiors didn’t know was how deeply a human could love or how resilient we became when we were hurt.
The Superiors never could have imagined an uprising, which was why they never saw it coming.
Humans deserved to be free, and I would stop at nothing to deliver that promise.
My name is Tilly, and I am still alive with one sole purpose: to begin a revolution.

~

I had been raised to believe humans were worthless. We owned them and controlled them, and when we were done with them, we threw them away. Therefore, I never thought I would ever feel more for Tilly than disinterest. I never expected to want to save her.
It was forbidden for a Superior to love a human. No one had ever crossed that line, but I did. I fell madly in love with her, so it was no surprise how we ended up.
I was raised to be a soldier, and that was what I was always going to be. However, I was not a soldier for the Superiors, not anymore.
I became a soldier for humans, and I would stop at nothing to help them. They deserved to be free, and I would die protecting them.
My name is Johnny, and I am here with one sole purpose: to finish a revolution. 

Goodreads |  Amazon

My thoughts:

3 “Amazing concept” STARS 

I wanted to love this story so much from the moment I read the blurb, but unfortunately I couldn’t connect with one of the main characters. It’s actually sad when I know the book is good (right now, mine is the first review under four stars on Goodreads) and still I don’t like the MC.

Look, I can’t say the rest of the book was perfect, but my main problem was definitely Tilly and how her actions and decisions kept pulling me away from the story.

Tilly is a human in an era when humans are worth nothing – they’re simply reduced to slaves or pets, if they manage to stay alive. We’re talking countless years into the future, although the book doesn’t specify how many, but enough that a species of “super humans” called the Superiors have overruled humans and taken over. They’re stronger, smarter, more resilient and apparently also more cruel. In a world ruled by Superiors, there’s no room for humans to be anything other than dispensable.

When she was a baby, Tilly was brought by a cruel and powerful General into his home to serve them and be showcased as a pet. Superiors with human pets were seen as important by the rest, and they’d gain even more respect if they’ve managed to make the human behave well. But despite the General’s acts of cruelty, Tilly also found love and understanding at his place. His daughter, the rebellious and extremely likable Charlotte fell in love with Tilly immediately and helped raise her in the best way possible. Charlotte taught Tilly how to speak, to read, and defended her against her father’s wrath. Their friendship was beautiful and showed Tilly that not all Superiors were the same.

My only complaint here was that I wished we’d seen more of these two together before Tilly escaped the General’s house. Maybe it was because I connected with Charlotte more than I ever did Tilly. Charlotte had a fire in her… a desire to make the world better and she had a lot to lose by rebelling against her father and fighting for the human race.

But Charlotte was just a side character. And for me, Tilly didn’t have the strength to carry the story as the main character. I ended up skimming through her chapters after Charlotte helped her escape, especially after she managed to get herself in trouble only a couple of hours later. It irritated me to see her make silly decisions that put her life in danger after Charlotte had gone through so much to make sure she was free.

I mostly kept going because of the premise and because there was another POV. Those chapters interested me a lot more. Reason number one was because it showed Tilly growing up in the General’s house with Charlotte and her brother, the second MC and the boy Tilly loves, Johnny. Reason number two was Johnny himself.

Johnny’s character arc was more satisfying than Tilly’s. He went from a little boy who wanted to please his father to the guy who despised the old man’s cruelty. He chose to protect the ones he loved time and time again – by trying to cover up for Charlotte when she did something to infuriate their father or by simply refusing to follow the rules and choosing a human he loved. Unlike Charlotte, Johnny wasn’t always pro-human, but he didn’t let his father mold him into the monster the General wanted him to be. He fought back and I was glad to follow his journey.

Sure I also had a few problems with his POV chapters, mainly the ones from when he was really young and still talked like an adult. The dialogue and his inner thoughts didn’t match the ones of a child at all, and though I could’ve ignored it, it bothered me so much I had to take a deep breath before continuing.

In the end, I’m glad I didn’t DNF it, because the story got better as it progressed and the ending was really satisfying. Had I connected with Tilly, this book would’ve probably made my favorite lists due to its great premise and the forbidden love aspect that kept me reading despite not liking the MC all that much.